The cask containing 22 fuel rods at the No. 4 reactor building on a trailer, is moved from the reactor building to another building where a common fuel pool is located, at the tsunami-crippled TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, in this photo taken by Kyodo November 21, 2013. (Reuters / Kyodo) / Reuters

Workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have successfully removed the first nuclear fuel rods from a cooling pool suspended above ground in what is one of the most dangerous operations ever attempted in nuclear history.

Already riddled with problems,
the complex process of cleaning up and decommissioning the plant
consists of many components. The removal of these rods is of
paramount importance for safety and the prevention of another
nuclear catastrophe.

Each fuel assembly contains 50 to 70 fuel rods – there are a
total of 22 assemblies that have been transported today aboard a
trailer to another, newer, storage pool on the final day of an
operation that lasted four days, according to a statement by
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), Reuters reports.

What used to be done by computer will now be an entirely manual
process, because of the tilted position of the cooling pools,
which was affected by the tsunami and earthquake that battered
the power plant in 2011.

The reason is that computers are programmed only to respond to
the exact position of a fuel rod. With those positions now
offset, the operation is a painstaking manual process. Each time
the fuel rods rub together or are subjected to shaking, the
workers risk unleashing incredible amounts of radiation.

There are more than 1,500 potentially damaged fuel assemblies
located in Reactor No. 4 – the most unstable part of the power
plant. It was offline at the time of the 2011 catastrophic
earthquake and tsunami, which is why, unlike the other three, its
core didn't go into meltdown. Instead, hydrogen explosions blew
the roof off the building and severely damaged the structure – a
wholly different problem.

Now it is up to the cranes, controlled manually by workers, to do
the job.

By TEPCO’s estimates, the reactor alone should take about a year
to decommission, but some experts say even that may not be enough
time.

And time is the one thing TEPCO may not have. Mini-earthquakes
and tremors are frequent in the area, let alone big natural
disasters. So with time and accuracy being important, many see
the operation as a test of how well the plant operator can handle
the entire decommissioning process.

The operation will have to be performed underwater, for even
exposure to air – not only breakage – spells trouble, as it could
release incredible amounts of radioactive gas into the atmosphere
(the combined radioactive yield of all the rods is more than that
of the Hiroshima bomb).

Each assembly weighs about 300 kilograms and is approximately 4.5
meters in height.

Arnie Gunderson, a veteran nuclear engineer and the director of
Fairwinds Energy Education, told Reuters that the whole operation
was akin to pulling cigarettes from a crumpled pack.

The Monday operation had workers slowly control cranes and
pulling the assemblies out one by one before they were
transferred to a specially built steel cask to shield the plant
workers from radiation. That cask was then taken to another
cooling pool – possibly the only part of the entire power plant
that was not damaged in the quake and tsunami.

However, Reactor No. 4 had it easy. Other reactors that sustained
heavy damage and were subject to meltdowns also contain fuel
assemblies that will need to undergo similar procedures, but it
will all be much more difficult.

As this is taking place, the plant continues to be plagued by the
same problems it has suffered since the catastrophe: radioactive
water seeping into the ocean, a lack of adequate storage space
for it, the risk of tremors or quakes and rising radiation
levels.

The cleanup of the plant and the surrounding Fukushima prefecture
will cost tens of billions of dollars and is expected to take
decades, already causing a huge drain on the government’s
resources, which stepped in after it became apparent TEPCO could
not handle the costs on its own.